


No better love (that ever has loved me)

by AnaGP



Category: Inglorious Basterds
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 06:44:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13735344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnaGP/pseuds/AnaGP
Summary: “Wicki needs you.” That was all he said.





	No better love (that ever has loved me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [warmommy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/warmommy/gifts).



> Title from Hozier's 'Better Love'

“I’m alright,” she says as she makes her way to the fire, attempting to sound like she is not, in fact, breaking down into tiny pieces of who she used to be. Once. “I’m ok, I’m ok. I’m ok. Perfectly ok.” The problem is, she’s never been that good a liar, not even when lying would have saved her from terrible things. She’d never been able to craft the perfect lie.

  
It’s ironic now. Really, it is. Wicki had been sent out with Donny and she was left to her own devices, which meant just staring at the fire, sitting in between Stiglitz and Aldo. Staring and wondering if this was the time Wicki wouldn’t make it back.

  
“What’s a matter, kid?” Aldo asked her.

  
“Nothing. Just tired.” Lies. But perhaps for the first time in her life, they seemed to work. Only…only right now she wished they hadn’t. Aldo just shrugged and continued looking at the papers in his hands, and that was that.

  
Stiglitz had been kind to her, in his own way. He gave her an extra orange whenever he found one and he made a point of staying near whenever Wicki wasn’t around, as if he knew his absence made her anxious.

  
And it did, make her anxious, that is. Wicki had been the one that found her, that stormy night in the tavern where the German was getting too handsy. At the time, Wicki had been using a German uniform and she’d been afraid of him. But when he took her outside, calmed her down and explained who he was…well, things changed.

  
She insisted he accompany her to her room in the hotel she was staying at. He’d looked at her and promised he would not hurt her. And she’d known. She’d just known that she had crossed the point of no return.

  
His hands were soft and his body strong and she’d never felt as safe as she had in that moment, with him holding her so tight in the early morning. He’d bid her goodbye with a heartbreaking kiss and she’d thought she would never see him again.

  
And she wouldn’t have, if not for Hugo Stiglitz. She’d been drinking vodka straight from the bottle, curled up in bed when a tap on the window made her jump. She saw the German climbing into the room and she panicked, almost screamed for help but he had a hand on her mouth and told her to be quiet. She’d been terrified.

  
“Wicki needs you.” That was all he said.

  
“Wilhelm?” She murmured, staring at Hugo as if in a trance.

  
“Ja.” He retrieved a jacket from the dresser and threw it at her. “We’re leaving.”

  
And she’d gone. No note to anyone, no nothing. She had no one that cared and no place to call home. In retrospect, it had been completely insane to follow Stiglitz that night. But she’d never regretted it.

  
The fight between Hugo and Aldo had been enormous. Wicki had fallen ill, he had a fever and kept calling her name, which is why Hugo had ended up disappearing for two days looking for her. Aldo had started yelling as soon as he saw her, and Hugo had yelled right back.

  
“What do you want me to do?” Hugo had finally said, lowering his voice. “Take her back?”

  
Wicki had still been delirious, holding onto her like she was the very last bit of happiness the world had to offer.

  
“No.” Aldo kicked at the dirt. “But if she betrays us, I expect you to shoot her.”

  
“She won’t.” Hugo’s words had been final.

  
And now, months later, she was nervously chewing her lip, holding Hugo’s hand as she waited for Wicki to come back.

  
“He’ll be alright,” Aldo said, not looking up from the papers. “Damn bastard is always alright.”

  
She looked at Hugo, they locked eyes and the German attempted a smile at her. “Wicki will be back soon.”

  
So she sat and waited. And waited and waited until she fell asleep. Hugo was the one who laid her on her bedroll, she fought to stay awake. “Sleep, little bird, sleep.” And she had.

  
The next morning she woke up to the feeling of someone holding her tight. She looked down at the hands on her waist, strong and with long fingers. She rolled over, smiled at Wicki’s sleeping face and pressed a kiss to his lips. It was fine, he was home.


End file.
